Search

In the backdrop of "dual-carbon" strategic objectives, understanding the influence of the digital economy (DE) on carbon emissions (CEs) is imperative. However, there is limited research on the DE's negative impact on CEs and the nonlinear relationship between the DE and CE. To address this gap, we collected data from 270 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2021 and used benchmark regression, mediated effects, and panel threshold models to explore the DE's impact on CEs. The results showed that DE had a nonlinear, inverted U-shaped effect on CEs, with CEs initially increasing and then being suppressed. This conclusion remained consistent even after a series of robustness tests. Overall, the rate of urbanization and breadth of digital financial coverage mediate the relationship between the DE and CEs. Additionally, the combined effects of economic development, environmental regulation, fiscal decentralization, and population size contribute to the DE's nonlinear impact on CEs. The impact of the DE on CEs varies among nonresource-based, resource-based, and resource-depleted cities and between urban and nonurban agglomerations. This paper's findings support the development of the DE and the formulation of CE reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid pandemic was expected to provide a catalyst for better service provision by governments in general and local governments in particular. However, the complexity of governance suggests that citizens' expectations of performance of constitutionally assigned roles may not always meet the realities of state–state relations. This paper provides a nuanced example of the interplay between state–state relations, citizens' expectations and state–society relations in a three-tiered multi-governance context. Using findings from a virtual focus group discussion and online survey conducted in the first-wave lockdown in Lagos, Nigeria, it is shown that existing state–state relations influenced the relegation of local governments in the Covid-19 response structure, while citizens' expectations continually demanded their visibility in service provision, a role that community actors and civil society groups took up. It is argued that it is not enough for services (particularly in health emergencies) to be provided in local government areas and through local governments, but services provided by local governments provide the competency local governments need to partner with civil society and other actors, thereby strengthening their capacity to assume devolved roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the place of local governance in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indian cities. It situates pandemic governance in the evolving debates around decentralisation and its various strands, such as participative governance, service delivery, institutional capacity and performance, proximity of institutions and representatives, and representative democracy. The pandemic was a crisis that placed multiple governance and service delivery challenges on the state. Local governments had to innovate and deliver on multiple fronts in a highly uncertain and challenging context. To what extent were these innovations linked to the past trajectories of local governance? What happened to these innovations after the pandemic? On the basis of case studies of two highly diverse cities, the article argues that pandemic governance was circumscribed by the past trajectories of local governance. Further, it seeks to ask whether the pandemic contributed to an awareness of the need for democratic decentralisation or whether it intensified ongoing trends towards de-democratisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Rural Water & Hydropower is the property of China Rural Water & Hydropower Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: This paper examines to what extent blockchain creates legitimacy and trust in different modes of public governance. It posits that while blockchain aims for political legitimacy through decentralising, immutable and consensus-based mechanisms, the execution of these mechanisms is limited in legitimating governance, which has knock-on effects on trust. It provides an original contribution by recontextualising and reframing blockchain as a governance mechanism that should, and must, perform a legitimating function in order to engender trust. Design/methodology/approach: The research adopts a comprehensive framework for understanding the legitimacy of blockchain governance, positioning it in terms of co-governance, self-governance and hierarchical governance modes. It systematically analyses blockchain whitepapers, legislation, government documents and other sources in three paradigmatic case studies where blockchain governance failed. These cases are then used to assess blockchain according to three key characteristics of decentralisation, immutability and consensus. Findings: The research finds that blockchain's use in governance settings still relies on legitimacy conferred from other sources – namely state – in order to generate trust. Significant limitations in its de facto political decentralisation, immutability and consensus protocols can create failures in co-governance, self-governance and hierarchical-governance applications, thus limiting the legitimation function of blockchain in facilitating political trust. Originality/value: These findings are significant in highlighting blockchain's limitations as a decentralised, immutable and consensus-driven legitimating tool, which has knock-on effects on trust in technology and governance more broadly. It also has broader implications in more clearly highlighting the interconnectedness of political trust and legitimacy in governance processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the spatial relationship and driving forces between grain production and economic development in China can assist in the coordinated development of economic growth and grain production in both China and other developing countries. Based on panel data from 2000 to 2019 covering 2018 county-level units in China, this study comprehensively investigated the spatial distribution, spatial differences, dynamic evolution of distribution, and driving factors of China's county-level spatial deviation index of grain and economy (SDIGE) using methods such as the standard deviation ellipse method, the three-stage nested decomposition of Theil index, kernel density estimation, and geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. The results show that (1) from 2000 to 2019, China's SDIGE showed a development trend of "up—down—up," and the highest SDIGE was in the northeast region, the lowest in the east region, and the spatial pattern of "high in the northeast—low in the east coast" was increasingly prominent. (2) In terms of spatial difference, the overall difference of SDIGE in China from 2000 to 2019 showed a rising trend of development; The average contribution rate of the regional difference to the overall difference was the lowest, maintained at about 17.82%; The average contribution rate of intra city and inter-county differences to the overall difference is the highest, which is about 34.20%. (3) In terms of the driving force, the level of economic development hurts SDIGE, while population density, industrial structure, fiscal decentralisation, and terrain fluctuation have a positive and negative impact on SDIGE. To alleviate the imbalance between China's economic development and grain production, it is necessary to implement differentiated policy measures tailored to the specific characteristics of different regions to assist agricultural producers and enhance the stability of grain production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nation-states across the world are increasingly relinquishing powers to subnational tiers of government. This paper examines the drivers of this decentralisation revolution and the forces propelling it. While conventional wisdom has long attributed this phenomenon to the triumvirate of democracy, economic efficiency, and regional identity, the contemporary dynamics presented in this paper demand a far more nuanced interpretation. Through the dual lenses of the efficiency-based decentralisation theorem and political economy analysis, I discuss how globalisation, technological upheaval, and innovations in governance have fundamentally reshaped the relationship between political centres and periphery within countries. The empirical evidence reveals decentralisation not as a linear progression but as an intricate interweaving of economic imperatives and political will. This complexity defies simple causation, suggesting instead that the dispersal of power responds to an elaborate choreography of classical and modern forces. The paper dwells on the subtle mechanics of governmental reorganisation, offering insights into the evolving architecture of multi-level governance while acknowledging the inherent challenges in isolating singular causes for these transformative trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption is a major challenge in the Arab Mediterranean countries (AMCs). The fight against it was a key point in the Arab uprisings, yet since then and despite the international community's attempts to support anti-corruption strategies, the governments of the AMCs have not been able to address effectively the demands of their population. The article compares the anti-corruption initiatives in four AMCs: two republican semi-presidential systems (Egypt, Tunisia) and two constitutional monarchies (Jordan, Morocco). It focuses on their fight against political corruption, which has different forms. To reduce corruption, policymakers advocate the decentralization of power, as it leads to more accountability and transparency. The article unpacks the idea of decentralization and asks to what extent it contributes to reducing political corruption in the region. In doing so, the article produces a new typology that adds two important factors that contribute to a better understanding of the links between anti-corruption initiatives and decentralization: the challenges to the political survival of the government and the type of external support to fight corruption. The findings show that decentralization measures frequently result in administrative deconcentration rather than the decentralization of decision-making. Thus, they reproduce political corruption in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current severe carbon emissions situation in China increases the demand for a sound environmental governance system. Using provincial panel data from 2003 to 2017, this study investigates the spatial impact of different types of environmental decentralization (ED) on total factor carbon productivity (TFCP) and its internal mechanisms and explores the threshold effect of horizontal environmental decentralization (HED) and fiscal decentralization (FD) on this impact. The results indicate that the effect of ED on TFCP exists after considering the spatial dependence. An inverted "U-shaped" relationship exists between vertical environmental decentralization (VED) and TFCP, and a "U-shaped" relationship between horizontal environmental decentralization (HED) and TFCP; that is, excessive VED and insufficient HED will inhibit TFCP. Green technology innovation acts as a mediator in the impact of ED on TFCP, including VED and HED. The dynamic threshold panel model finds that both the increase of HED and FD improved the promotion effect of VED on TFCP, but the change in HED gradually reduced the promotion effect. China should adhere to the Goldilocks principle, strengthen vertical environmental centralization and promote horizontal environmental decentralization to create a superior institutional environment for stimulating green technological innovation to further weaken the "free rider" effect of environmental governance caused by externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consensus in the literature is that fiscal decentralisation is a means to reduce corruption. For China, the attenuating effects of fiscal decentralisation are often enhanced by other factors. This paper argues that prior findings serve to facilitate the design of anti‐corruption measures but they do not address why individuals may engage in corruption. This is especially as individual evidence suggests that engaging in corruption is against professional ethos in China. This paper suggests that intergovernmental transfers and the relative level of economic development of where a public servant is serving influence the decision of whether to engage in corruption. Specifically, intergovernmental transfers and a higher level of local economic development directly affect the resources that a local administration has. In turn, this affects the extent to which one may realise their motivations for a career in the public sector. Empirical estimates for 1998–2013 serve to support the hypothesis. Points for practitioners: Fiscal decentralisation mitigates the prevalence of corruption in China in conjunction with other complimentary factors.But engaging in corruption is inconsistent with motivations for a public sector career which include engaging in work for society's greater benefit.Corruption may emerge because public servants feel that they may be unable to achieve their aims for joining the public sector because of local resource constraints.Empirical findings suggest that increased resources to local administrations from intergovernmental transfers and economic development may discourage public servants from deviating from their stated career motivations, that is, engaging in corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's 74th Constitutional Amendment obliges state governments to devolve responsibilities related to urban environmental resources and services to the Urban Local Bodies. However, the existing literature points to deficiencies in urban decentralization, including a mismatch between resources and responsibilities, financial constraints, and a lack of capacities at the municipal level. This article, based on comparative fieldwork and analysis of environmental governance in four small cities in Gujarat and West Bengal, two states representing contrasting subnational political regimes, largely confirms the literature on urban decentralization, but it also shows important differences between the two states. Municipal governance reflects state-level regime types to some extent: While an efficient local and parastatal bureaucracy spearheads investments in environmental infrastructure in Gujarat, relatively autonomous elected municipal councillors in West Bengal guide a widely spread creation of small environmental assets. The availability of more untied funds at the local level in Gujarat than in West Bengal leads to more pronounced intra-state variation and opens possibilities for more substantial municipal agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimization of the environmental management system holds the key to environmental improvement. Despite extensive studies in the past years, it is still an open question whether environmental policies should be centrally enforced. Thus, this paper, based on clarifying the relationship between environmental decentralization (ED) and river chief system (RCS), will elucidate the theoretical mechanism of the impact of ED on environmental pollution from the perspective of local governments' environmental attention (LGEA). In addition, based on the panel data of 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2003 to 2018, it will take the establishment of RCS as a quasi-natural experiment to explore the effect of ED on environmental pollution and the mediating effect of LGEA with the difference-in-difference method. The results show that ED exerts a lagged effect on reducing environmental pollution, and the effect increases over time. In terms of heterogeneity, the effect of ED on environmental pollution is immediately negative, and the negative effect increases over time in cities with high fiscal decentralization, but the effect is immediately positive and the positive effect decreases over time in cities with low fiscal decentralization. Lastly, the test of mediating effect indicates that ED can ultimately reduce environmental pollution by raising LGEA. This paper provides a new perspective for understanding the impact of ED on emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed with the aim of assessing the effectiveness of decentralization of disaster risk management in Borana zone and South-West Shawa zone of Oromia region. A mixed research approach was used to collect data from federal, regional, zonal, district (woreda), and ward (kebele) representatives. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were the qualitative methods used to collect data, while survey questionnaires were distributed to experts to collect quantitative data. The qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis whereas the quantitative data were analyzed using STATA software version 14. The findings of the research have shown that, the actors are aware of Busa Gonofa as a new indigenous self-help institution. The policy on decentralization of disaster risk reduction was better understood at the federal, regional, and zonal levels of the government tiers than at the woreda and kebele levels. Administrative decentralization was found to be more effective than fiscal and political decentralization. The decentralization of Ethiopian disaster risk reduction is incomplete with limited effectiveness. There exists significant difference between Borana and South-West Shawa zones in decentralization of disaster risk management. The implementation of decentralization was constrained by training, technology, collaboration, financial resources, skill and knowledge, institutional arrangement, and local capacity. Hence, there is a need to address these challenges and make continuous efforts to focus on local-level capacity building in terms of empowerment of actors through training, technology, and financial resources for adaptation and mitigation to drought in Borana and flood in South-West Shawa zones respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Swiss Political Science Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Latin American nations are highly urbanised around a small number of megacities that account for the majority of these nations' productivity and population. Scholars of urban planning and economics argue these cities may be overly large, leading to environmental, transportation and housing issues that depress growth and increase economic inequality. We use fine-grained satellite data from 1992–2018 to document urban concentration in Latin America. We argue political decentralisation creates incentives to distribute urban populations more evenly throughout the territory. Our results demonstrate a strong empirical relationship between political decentralisation and lower urban concentration. We link our findings to literature on economic geography, political institutions and urbanisation, with broader implications for the politics of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the field of local government studies there has long been a tendency to conceive and engage with 'the local' in a normative way – focusing on its alleged inherently 'good nature' without interrogating what the local actually is and means. In this reflective provocation, drawing on the case of England, we contend that failure to address this existential question risks pushing local government studies into a cul-de-sac whereby its fails to benefit from the potential of multidisciplinary dialogues, drawing ever tighter boundaries around the field. In response, we shift attention to how we might harness the plurality of the local, suggesting that the real value of the local, both as a concept and practice, lies in its fuzzy and often problematic nature. We argue that embracing, rather than dismissing, this intrinsic character of the local is essential not just to capture its value, but also to open up new avenues in the way we study and conceive it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The quality and access to healthcare systems depend on community health resources, infrastructure, and funding; however, a significant disparity in these resources persists globally. The effectiveness of national health systems depends on a balanced approach to health spending, access to facilities and a skilled local health workforce. What accounts for country‐level differences in those critical community and societal health resources? We proposed and tested a model that leverages political and socioeconomic factors to predict various health resources and services in countries. Data, including community health training, research, and support, universal health coverage, healthcare infrastructure, and per capita health expenditure, were collected and analysed by statistical methods, like bivariate correlations and hierarchical multiple linear regressions from 105 countries. Countries with more grassroots activism, fiscal decentralisation, freedom, and globalisation and less perceived corruption and inequality had more community and societal health resources. In multivariate analyses, stronger community health training and research is associated with the globalisation index, freedom score, government fiscal decentralisation, and income inequality. The strongest predictor of health insurance coverage and hospital beds was the country's population education index, and of nurses and midwives‐per‐capita and health expenditures‐per‐capita was GDP‐per‐capita. These insights could guide policymaking to reduce global health inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, China's economic development is dominated by an eco-friendly and low-carbon transition, making the low-carbon advancement of the construction sector urgent. Local governments play a crucial role in this process. This paper, utilizing provincial panel data from 2007 to 2021, empirically analyzes the impact of government environmental governance (EG) on the carbon intensity of the construction industry (CCEI) through the panel regression, spatial econometric and dynamic threshold models. The findings indicate that (1) EG has a significant inverted U-shaped effect on CCEI, with initial increases in carbon intensity followed by reductions once EG intensity surpasses a certain level. (2) Significant spatial spillover effects reveal that increased EG in one region exerts a similar inverted U-shaped impact on both local and neighboring CCEI. (3) Under China's fiscal decentralization framework, two dimensions—vertical decentralization and horizontal competition—serve as forms of fiscal decentralization, each with dynamic threshold effects: EG's influence on CCEI turns negative under high vertical decentralization, and positive under intense horizontal competition. These results could offer insights from China's emission reduction experiences in the energy-intensive sector, serving as a valuable reference for environmental decision-makers worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to clarify the impact of education on income inequality in a decentralized Indonesia. This paper uses Indonesian provincial-level data from 2001 to 2018 and dynamic panel estimation techniques to deal with the estimation's potential persistence and endogeneity problems. The result provides evidence that the higher level of fiscal decentralization, the weaker the effect of schoolyears on income inequality. Fiscal decentralization moderates the positive relationship between schoolyears and income inequality such that the relationship is weakened when the level of fiscal decentralization is higher and stronger when the level of fiscal decentralization is lower. Fiscal decentralization may enable the local government to improve its capacity to reduce the income inequality increases caused by improved educational outcomes. This paper proposes a set of policy recommendations for the government to alleviate the effect of education outcomes on income inequality using fiscal decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Labour manifesto in this year's election implied a radical restructuring of the UK state, the way in which England is governed and in relations across the United Kingdom. The aim of making English devolution the ‘default option’ is set against fifty years of unsuccessful and partial devolution initiatives which have failed to reverse the accretion of power in the central UK state. Centralisation can be seen as the consequence of an Anglocentric constitutionalism which vests power in the centre, underpins England's fragmented departmental governance and where accountability mechanisms flow to HM Treasury. Labour's success will reflect its willingness to challenge these constitutional assumptions, which are deeply embedded in the culture, practice and structures of Westminster and Whitehall. Successful devolution will require breaking the chains of accountability that tie local spending decisions to the centre and placing devolved English local government on a stronger constitutional basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective evaluation of the factors affecting technological innovation efficiency (TIE) at the system level is an important focus in promoting high-quality economic development. Previous studies are extensively concerned with the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and TIE in recent years, but little attention has been paid to whether and how fiscal decentralisation affects TIE systematically from the perspective of efficiency decomposition. Using China's panel data at the province level from 1998 to 2018, we explore this question by decomposing the TIE into scale efficiency and pure technical efficiency. Findings demonstrate that fiscal decentralisation has a positive and significant influence on TIE and scale efficiency, but has no significant influence on pure technical efficiency. The influences of fiscal decentralisation on TIE and its decomposition efficiency have evident regional heterogeneity. Fiscal decentralisation can improve TIE and scale efficiency by increasing fiscal expenditure on science and technology. These findings may aid policymakers in reasonably designing future innovation policies and the next-stage reform package. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista SAAP is the property of Sociedad Argentina de Analisis Politico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Throughout the recent pandemic, governments used digital video technologies to facilitate social distancing during political meetings. In addition to enabling social distancing, a theoretical advantage of virtual political governance is that it has the potential to mitigate the hierarchical administrative relationship between capitals and regions and the differences in real estate prices and wealth that often follows from such hierarchical structures. However, hardly any governments are currently planning a long‐term transition to work‐from‐home digital governance. On the contrary, several countries are doubling down on the centralization model of government by building new capitals in new locations. This article proposes that in a time of digital alternatives, physically centralized "capitals" could be considered examples of bad equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the concept of utopianism in contemporary anti-utopian visions of politics, drawing parallels between Marcus Aurelius and David McPherson's views on realistic political goals. McPherson emphasizes the importance of grounding political theories in reality to avoid disappointment and radical actions. The text also explores how politicians in modern democracies often promise grand visions to win elections, leading to a cycle of overpromising and underdelivering. Ultimately, the article questions whether a realist vision of politics can gain widespread acceptance in today's political landscape. [Extracted from the article]

This study explores the impact of Chinese fiscal decentralization on public service satisfaction using the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data from 2012 to 2020. The findings reveal that fiscal decentralization has a significantly positive effect on public service satisfaction in China. This result remains robust when subjected to various tests. Moreover, this study finds that the enhancement of public service satisfaction is more pronounced in the eastern regions, compared to the central and western regions. Additionally, this study suggests that both economic pressure and corruption have a negative moderating effect on the promotion of fiscal decentralization on public service satisfaction, while marketization has a positive moderating effect. These findings provide a deeper understanding of the factors that promote public service satisfaction in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of regional inequality has gained prominence during the era of progress, driven by the goal of promoting equitable development and enhancing the well-being of all segments of society. Papua Province is an integral part of Indonesia, and confronts intricate hurdles in addressing regional inequality. In response to these hurdles, special autonomy status and fiscal decentralization were implemented to boost regional autonomy. This study aims to scrutinize the impact of special autonomy and fiscal decentralization on regional inequality within Papua Province. The dataset used in the study spans from 2011 to 2021 and has been sourced from the Central Bureau of Statistics for Papua Province and the Directorate General of Fiscal Balance under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied and the analytical results underscore that granting special autonomy status has exerted a noteworthy influence in diminishing regional inequality within Papua Province. Nevertheless, an unexpected finding is that fiscal decentralization has not substantially curtailed regional inequality within the region. These revelations provide a comprehensive overview of the roles played by fiscal decentralization and special autonomy in endeavors to alleviate regional inequality in Papua Province. The implications of these findings lay the groundwork for policymaking and developmental planning that foster inclusivity and sustainable progress within the Province of Papua. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of digital technology, it is of great significance to make good use of digital technology to accelerate the green transformation of production and lifestyle and promote the ecological civilization construction (ECC). This study first analyzes the impact mechanism of digital technology on ECC. Secondly, this study constructs evaluation index systems and measures the level of digital technology and ECC in 31 provinces of China, from 2011 to 2022. Thirdly, using a two-way fixed effect model, spatial spillover effect model, and threshold effect model, this study explores the promoting effect of digital technology on ECC. The main research conclusions include the following: (1) digital technology significantly promotes ECC, and regional heterogeneity exists in the promoting effect, manifested as western > central > eastern. (2) The promoting effect of digital technology on ECC has a significant spatial spillover effect. (3) When the three threshold variables of industrial structure, education level, and R&D investment cross the threshold value, the promoting effect of digital technology is significantly enhanced. However, when fiscal decentralization crosses the threshold value, the promoting effect of digital technology is significantly weakened. Based on the above research conclusions, this study identifies some policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a major emerging economy, China government debt burden on local governments remains substantial, so enhance fiscal self-sufficiency and debt sustainability is so important. Utilizing panel data spanning from 2004 to 2020 across 29 provincial-level governments in China, this study employs the SYS-GMM approach to empirically validate the significant negative impact of digital infrastructure development on governments' fiscal self-sufficiency rates. Furthermore, the research shows the significant positive mediating role of technological expenditure efficiency between digital infrastructure and fiscal self-sufficiency, implying that digital infrastructure can enhance fiscal self-sufficiency by augmenting technological innovation efficiency. Under the moderating effect mechanism, fiscal decentralization positively moderates the relationship between digital infrastructure and fiscal self-sufficiency. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact of digital infrastructure on fiscal self-sufficiency is more pronounced in high-density regions. At the same time, its effect is less significant in low-density areas, indicating regional disparities in China's digital infrastructure development. The contribution of this study is grounded in fiscal decentralization theory, policy recommendations advocate granting local governments greater autonomy over tax categories and broadening their fiscal revenue. Concurrent efforts should be directed towards deepening reforms in the fiscal and taxation systems, as well as budget management mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the formation of modern Japanese national consciousness, with a focus on the case of Ryūkyū-Okinawa. It discusses the role of the central government in shaping national consciousness, as well as the opposition and antagonism between government intentions and citizen consciousness. The article also explores the unique relationship between the center and periphery, particularly the implementation of nationally uniform legislation in Okinawa. The annexation of Okinawa into modern Japan had a significant impact on both Japan's trajectory and the unification of Okinawa, although it did not always align with the government's intentions. The article also discusses the historical background and perspectives of Yamagata Aritomo, a key figure in the government and military, who visited Okinawa and influenced government policies. [Extracted from the article]

One possible way to achieve environmental sustainability is by addressing the issue of rising CO2 emissions, which significantly cause climate change by intensifying the greenhouse gas effect. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which substantially contributes to global CO2 emissions, necessitates a paradigm shift towards using clean energy sources and promoting green innovations to ensure environmental sustainability. Thus, this study aims to inspect the role of renewable energy use, green technology innovation, political stability, and fiscal decentralization in attaining environmental sustainability by limiting CO2 emissions for seven OECD economies from 2000 to 2019. This study has employed the 'Cross-Sectional Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag and Augmented Mean Group Estimator' for robust empirical analysis. The results indicate that renewable energy use, political stability, and fiscal decentralization can mitigate CO2 emissions and ensure environmental sustainability in OECD economies. In contrast, green technology innovation exhibits an insignificant effect on CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the moderation effects of fiscal decentralization and political stability exhibit a negative relationship with CO2 emissions. Notably, this study advises OECD nations to encourage regional cooperation to ensure political stability and devolution of fiscal powers to promote green innovation and renewable energy use to achieve sustainable goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality development is the primary task of comprehensively building a socialist, modern country, as well as the primary task of building urban agglomerations in China. Based on the five development concepts, this paper used the entropy method to measure the High Quality Development Index (HQDI) of the five major urban agglomerations. The results showed that the HQDI of the five major urban agglomerations shows a fluctuating upward trend. First, using the Dagum Gini coefficient to explore the sources of HQDI development differences in urban agglomerations, we found that the main source of HQDI differences in urban agglomerations was interregional differences, while intra-regional differences were not important. Second, kernel density estimation was used to test the dynamic evolution trend of HQDI within urban agglomerations. There was a polarisation phenomenon in the HQDI of urban agglomerations, such as the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration and the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration. But overall, the degree of imbalance had decreased. Third, using geographic detectors to examine the driving factors of HQDI in urban agglomerations, we found that the main driving forces for improving HQDI in urban agglomerations were economic growth, artificial intelligence technology and fiscal decentralisation. All the interaction factors had greater explanatory power for the spatial differentiation of HQDI, which can be divided into two types: two-factor improvement and non-linear improvement. This study is conducive to improving and enriching the theoretical system for evaluating the high quality development of urban agglomerations, and provides policy references for promoting the high quality development of urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of economic development in China cannot be separated from the 'shadow' of government target intervention. Under the Chinese system of fiscal decentralization, constraints created by local government fiscal revenue targets (CCFRTs) will have a series of influence on development economically and socially. Based on the fiscal revenue target data revealed in the government work reports of 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2019, this paper explores the influence of CCFRTs on green technology innovation (GTI). The findings are as follows: first, CCFRTs significantly inhibits GTI. Second, Spatial Durbin model analysis shows that CCFRTs has significant negative spatial spillover effect on GTI. Third, CCFRTs can affect GTI through the optimization of industrial structure, the level of human capital, and the degree of opening-up, technological progress and economic growth. Fourth, CCFRTs has an obvious threshold effect on GTI. Finally, the influence of CCFRTs on GTI has regional heterogeneity in central, eastern and western China. In the western and central regions, CCFRTs significantly restrains GTI significantly, while in the eastern region, CCFRTs significantly promotes GTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyse how financial ratios such as the independence ratio, effectiveness ratio, efficiency ratio, fiscal decentralisation ratio, dependency ratio, and compatibility ratio affect economic growth, directly or indirectly, through capital expenditure as a mediating factor. This research used a quantitative approach; purposive sampling was conducted, and path analysis was applied to explore the relationships between variables. The results show that self-reliance, effectiveness, efficiency, fiscal decentralisation, dependency, and capital expenditure significantly affect economic growth. The independence and effectiveness ratios have a positive impact, indicating that improvements in these variables directly foster economic growth. However, the efficiency and fiscal decentralisation ratios have a negative effect, suggesting that increases in these variables may reduce economic growth. Indirectly, through capital expenditure, the independence, effectiveness, dependency, and compatibility ratios significantly affect economic growth, with the independence ratio being the most dominant. Conversely, the fiscal decentralisation and efficiency ratios did not show significant indirect effects, indicating that capital expenditure is not an effective mediator for these variables. These findings provide insights into how local financial management strategies can influence regional development, offering key policy recommendations for Banten's local government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IMPACT: This article investigates the autonomy and control of municipally owned corporations (MOCs) in the context of two centralized states: Turkey and Israel. It identifies the strategic and operational autonomy of MOCs, referring to logics of appropriateness and consequentiality explanations for factual autonomy. The study emphasizes the hybrid nature of most MOCs, subject to both private and public law. It proposes a new typology based on MOCs' legal structures to address limitations of current typologies. The comparative analysis using the new typology provides nuanced understanding of MOC autonomy in centralized states and equips practitioners with insights that can lead to tangible improvements. Results may steer further comparative research to identify broader patterns of control in MOC governance. They also provide practitioners and policy-makers with insights on fostering more efficient and effective MOC governance, and proposing evidence-based policy recommendations that balance the autonomy and control of MOCs. Corporatization of local government is a common practice in centralized states, where municipally owned corporations (MOCs) can increase local autonomy and generate independent municipal revenue. The authors' comparative analysis of MOC autonomy in Turkey and Israel shows that, in traditional service areas, public accountability is prioritized over performance in MOCs. The traditional distinction between MOCs based on public law and private law was found to be inadequate, as most MOCs are hybrid and subject to both public and private law. The findings highlight the importance of central government control as a key driver behind MOC autonomy formation. This research contributes to the agency, local government and MOC literatures by introducing a new MOC typology based on factual autonomy which can be operationalized to study cross-sectional and cross-sectoral patterns for MOC autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Athenaeum: Polskie Studia Politologiczne is the property of Faculty of Political Science & Security Studies Nicolaus Copernicus University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cities worldwide are taking action to increase the amount and quality of urban green spaces. However, not all efforts for the greening of cities produce just and inclusive outcomes. For more inclusive urban greening processes, scholars have proposed incentivizing residents’ participation in planning and implementing green initiatives that promote creating and maintaining green spaces. However, further in-depth analysis of the connection between implementing new urban green spaces and environmental (in)justice is needed to understand how unjust outcomes might emerge due to policies aiming to promote the uptake of urban green through citizen engagement. To investigate the justice implications of policies that aim to create new urban green spaces through citizen participation, this article combines GIS analysis and qualitative analysis of 26 semi-structured interviews to evaluate the process and outcomes of the Green Agenda policy in Amsterdam. The Green Agenda (Agenda Groen) is a municipal policy supporting citizens’ initiatives to uptake urban green. Through the analysis of this case study, the article aims to identify factors that create barriers to achieving just outcomes during the implementation of policies for urban greening. Results indicate that although the approach has successfully increased the amount of urban green in Amsterdam, the presence of barriers that impede procedural justice and lack of recognition made the urban greening process less just. The three underlying factors that create barriers in Amsterdam are the centralization of the government, the lack of support for local organizations, and the effect of socioeconomic characteristics on inclusion and participation. The article concludes by discussing the synergies and tradeoffs between identified barriers and suggesting solutions to be integrated into future policies for more successful and just greening processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Decentralization and Rural Areas in Mozambique, Colombia, and Bolivia" explores the process of decentralization in these countries, highlighting the impact on democracy and rural development. It discusses the historical context of decentralization, the role of political, fiscal, and administrative decentralization, and the potential benefits and challenges associated with this process. The article compares the experiences of Mozambique, Colombia, and Bolivia, emphasizing the importance of leadership, social requisites, and alliances in shaping the outcomes of decentralization. The analysis suggests that decentralization can be a complex and long-term process, requiring careful navigation of political dynamics and historical factors to achieve meaningful reforms. [Extracted from the article]

The article engages on purported Zimbabwe centralization of local administrative authority in recent years. The engagement takes place against the background of Zimbabwe having previously made notable inroads in its decentralization reforms earlier on in its history following the end of colonial rule. The article drew from robust document analysis, decentralization theory and the concepts of decentralization and centralization to engage on national government's centralization of local administrative authority in Zimbabwe. The article finds that it is something of a paradox that present-day Zimbabwe appears to be backpeddling after seemingly setting itself voluntarily on a firm path to decentralization of governmental authority and responsibility to the local units of government. In particular, it finds that administrative centralization, fiscal centralization and political centralization are now a common feature of intergovernmental relations in Zimbabwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the interaction between 'radical' constitutional change, in the form of political devolution, and property systems in the UK, from the perspective of those at the margins of those systems. The paper adopts a property 'from below' approach and critically applies the theoretical framework developed by AJ van der Walt in Property in the Margins. In that book, van der Walt outlined how property systems frequently operate to resist democratic and constitutional change and transformation through the functioning of the property paradigm, which refers to a set of doctrinal, rhetorical, and logical assumptions and beliefs about the relative value and power of discrete property interests in law and in society. Building on van der Walt's work, this paper takes eviction, which represents the landlord's apex right, as a case study and considers how qualifications of that right have been reformed by the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016. It is argued that while the strength of the property paradigm is apparent in both English and Scottish property systems, Living Rent, a national tenants' union in Scotland, have organised tenants to effectively contest and, in some respects, displace the logic of the property paradigm during the reform process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The document "Northern Ireland 2023" offers a comprehensive overview of the political landscape in Northern Ireland, covering government officials, political representation, local government, legislation, elections, opinion polls, and key political events. It includes abbreviations for political parties, organizations, and government bodies in the region. The LucidTalk Northern Ireland Opinion Panel 'Tracker Poll' conducted in Autumn 2023 revealed Sinn Féin leading with 31%, followed by the DUP at 28%, and APNI at 16%. The year 2023 marked the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, with significant events like the Windsor Framework and Legacy Bill impacting the political scene in Northern Ireland. [Extracted from the article]

This study asks whether existing standards of good governance have incorporated ideals and measures to manage communal diversity. The context is an intellectual landscape in which the efficacy of heterogeneity policies has typically been compared through their impact on the likelihood of violent conflict. Alternate approaches would fine‐tune the outcome variable and/or enlist new independent variables. The Ethnic Power Relations project provided measures of the groups' co‐determination position (egip, excl) and measures of empowerment through self‐governing start to follow suit, such as improved indicators of territorial autonomies, decentralization, and language use rights. We also crafted a measure of functional autonomies, based on the ENTA Network's case‐study collection. With the exception of territorial autonomies, all existing measures of policies that accommodate the difference tend to improve the group's relationships with other groups and with the country as a whole. They also correlate well with the general good governance indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes Brazil's Unified Health System (SUS), established by the 1988 Constitution. The papper initially presents the previous trajectory of national health policy and the context of democratization in the 1980s, which favored health reform and created a public, universal, and comprehensive health system. It then explores the advances and contradictions recorded in more than three decades of implementation of the SUS. The main advances observed were the creation of institutional mechanisms compatible with the federative arrangement and social participation, political and administrative decentralization, the national expansion of access to health, changes in the health care model, including strengthening primary care, and improvements in health indicators. On the other hand, the persistence of structural problems and disputes between different health agendas, with differences between governments, led to contradictions in financing and public-private relations in health. Despite the differences between countries, the analysis of the Brazilian case provides lessons on the challenges in building universal health systems in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the effects of fiscal decentralization on people's access to health and education services in Cameroon. It is generally believed that fiscal decentralization is an essential way to improve people's access to social services such as education and health. After reviewing the literature, we employed the Driscoll and Kraay estimate in a sample of 45 rural and urban municipalities for the period 2010–2020 to find our results. The results show that fiscal decentralization has a positive effect on the number of classrooms per pupil and the number of desks per pupil. At the same time, it negatively affects public hospitals per capita and the state of public hospitals. To improve people's access to education and health services in Cameroon, it is necessary to encourage the transfer of powers to municipalities. There is a need to control the actions of local officials to avoid mismanagement of resources that will not benefit the population. Also, the responsibility for selecting communal projects financed via the public investment budget within the framework of decentralization should be exclusively that of municipal executives, and not that of the central government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A persistent literature gap exists in understanding the impact of fiscal decentralization on the digital economy. This study examines the correlation between fiscal decentralization and the development of digital economy drawing on the province data in China from 2013 to 2021. We find that (1): Local government fiscal decentralization actively nurtures the growth of the local digital economy (2). The principal mechanism propelling this phenomenon is the augmentation of financial decentralization facilitated by fiscal decentralization, thereby catalyzing the overall advancement of the digital economy. This study holds substantial significance in the global context of digital economy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article delves into the management of prisoners of war during the American Revolution, examining the shifting roles of civil and military authorities. Initially, state and local governments were heavily involved in prisoner administration, but control gradually centralized under the Continental Army with the establishment of the Department of Prisoners. This led to a division between civil and military jurisdictions, showcasing evolving dynamics and tensions in managing prisoners during the war. The text underscores the collaboration and eventual loss of authority of state governments over military prisoners, shedding light on the complex relationship between civil and military authorities in this historical context. [Extracted from the article]

Many countries have embarked on decentralization as a way to mitigate separation tendencies. Even though decentralization could satisfy some separation tendencies, the central government might be unable or unwilling to award the localities the level of decentralization they require to stay in the union. This mismatch may give rise to domestic violence and internal conflict. We propose a simple two-stage model that combines the decentralization and domestic terrorism literature in a single structural model, which can be readily tested using existing data in the disciplines. As long as the actual decentralization level meets the unobserved desired value by the localities, there will be a high likelihood of observing a zero incidence of domestic terrorism. Otherwise, the incidents happen regularly with mitigating effects from decentralization. Our model also accounts for the left-censoring of the terrorism data at zero. We examine our model using 5-year interval panel data of more than 60 countries based on the information for 1970–2019. Our results indicate a strong negative and statistically significant relationship between fiscal decentralization and domestic terrorism events. One percent increase in fiscal decentralization is associated with a two to three percent decline in domestic terrorism incidents. The coefficients of the selection model and domestic terrorism model generally conform to the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]